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Friday, December 30, 2016

Welcome back,
MaryAnn. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on
the horizon?

I praise God for moving in my life, in His own way and in
His own timing. My job is simply to be sensitive to His leading and to follow
Him wherever He wants to take me. That said, what I see on the horizon is
greater intimacy in my relationship with God as I focus above all on
worshipping Him and being in His Presence. From this place of vision, I see a
deluge of ideas for more stories that will glorify Jesus and point people to
Him. Many of these stories are already formulating in my mind, and three of
them I’ve already begun to write.

Tell us a little
about your family.
My husband Dom and I have been married for 47 years. Dom is a retired ER
physician who now helps me with my writing ministry. He does a lot of the
research for my historical novels and takes care of much of the business side
of my writing. Dom and I are blessed with two amazing adult daughters. Our
firstborn daughter, Lia, is a church musician and educator. She and her husband,
Peter, have five beautiful children ranging in age from 10 to 4. Our second-born
daughter, Gina, is a historian and a public policy specialist. She is also a worship
leader at her church, a runner, and an outstanding writer in her own right.

Has your writing
changed your reading habits? If so, how?I have always been an avid reader and have especially enjoyed reading the
classics. The fact that I now write fiction has led me to read a lot more
contemporary fiction. Fiction written today is much different in terms of
technique than fiction written 100 years ago—even 25 years ago. Attention spans
are shorter today. Life is more hectic today. So, readers don’t have time for
long, descriptive narratives. They want to get into the story, and they want to
get into it fast. :) As a result, fiction writers have had to adapt
stylistically to these cultural changes in order to hook and retain reader
interest. At the same time, a good story defies time and place and has constant
elements that never change. So, I see my role as a writer of fiction as that of
combining the best of the past with the best of the present.

What are you working
on right now?

I will soon be starting the writing of Book 3, RETURN TO
BELLA TERRA, in THE ITALIAN CHRONICLES Trilogy. I am also
working on a stand-alone novel tentatively titled AN ITALIAN ROMANCE and a
book of poetry for children called POEMS FOR WEE ONES that I hope to release in
2018, Lord willing.

What outside
interests do you have?

I love to read, to draw, and to paint in oils, acrylics, and
pastels, as well as pen and ink and colored pencil. I love to play the
piano and cello, and I am currently learning how to play the mandolin, an instrument my
maternal grandfather played. I recently began crocheting hats and scarves for a church
ministry that ministers to the homeless. Of course, I enjoy spending lots of
time with my precious grandchildren.

How do you choose
your settings for each book?I choose settings with which I am familiar, usually from having lived there
or, at least from having visited the location. Knowing the setting well enables
me to create a strong sense of realism that adds credibility to my stories by
virtue of my familiarity with the details of the location.

If you could spend an
evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I would spend an evening with Jesus Christ because He is not
only the central and pivotal point of all history, but also because
He is outside of all history and all history is defined by Him. Since He is the
Master Story-Teller, I would ask Him especially about the principles of story
and how He used those principles in pointing people to the Father.

What is the one thing
you wish you had known before you started writing novels?Instead of viewing novel-writing as a glamorous activity, I wish I had had
a more realistic view. I wish
I had known that there are clear, well-defined principles of story-telling that
transcend time and place and that can be learned, and that knowing those principles
and applying them would result in stories that keep readers reading.

What new lessons is
the Lord teaching you right now?
The Lord is teaching me how to rest in Him more and more. He is showing me that
DOING flows out of BEING, and that as I spend time in His Presence, worshipping
Him, I will bear much fruit. He is showing me what it truly means to be
attached to the Vine and to BE in Him before I DO for Him.

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to
do to be successful?
1 – Put God first in all things, including your writing. (Matthew 6: 33)
2 – Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit regarding your writing. (Romans 8:
14)
3—Obey the voice of the Holy Spirit regarding your writing. (Jeremiah 7: 23)

Tell us about the
featured book.THE MADONNA OF PISANO is Book One in
my trilogy titled THE ITALIAN CHRONICLES. The idea for this story was sparked
by an incident that occurred in the life of my paternal great-grandmother. When
I learned of the incident during a genealogical search, I knew I had to write
about it in a story. While the seed of the story came from a true incident, the
incident has been fictionalized to accommodate the literary parameters of a
novel.

Please give us the
first page of the book.
Here is the first scene of Chapter One:Pisano, Sicily, September 1891

She had no
other choice.

Maria
Landro led her little son by the hand as they hurried down the winding road from Bella Terra toward the village. Distant, dark clouds
gathered in the morning sky. Looked like a storm coming. The anxiety that had been churning
for days in the pit of her stomach now spread to chill every part of her body. It was
all she could do to keep herself from turning back.

Nico tugged
on her wrist. “Are we almost there, Mama?”

She
squeezed his hand in return, the hem of her skirt rustling against the pebbles
as it

swished along the cobblestone road. “Almost, darling. Are
you all right?”

He looked
up at her. He had her father’s eyes. Kind, deep, and probing. They always

made him so easy to love.

“I’m well,
Mama.” But his fingers fidgeted in her hand.

His
nervousness only fueled her own. She squeezed his hand more tightly. Please let

the village be kind to him. Regardless of what they believed
about her.

A sudden
gust of wind caught the edge of her headscarf, pulling it back past her

temples. “My, the wind is getting stronger. Let’s hurry
before the storm breaks. We don’t

want you to arrive at school soaking wet on your very first
day, do we?”

“No, we
don’t, Mama. I would look silly.” He laughed, and an arrow pierced her

heart.

If anyone
hurt him …

A
hay-filled wagon rumbled past them, its wooden wheels creaking against the

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It really is special, Dianna. Now that my husband is retired, he enjoys his new "job" as my official researcher. 😀 We have lots of fun working together. I thank God for the great blessing my husband is to me. Thanks for commenting. Happy New Year!

I am so excited to find a Christian author. They are very hard to find. I love to read books, but l love to read good clean books. I have not read any of your books as of yet, but am looking forward to. I hope I WIN is wonderful book to get me started. I live in Washington, North Carolina way on the eastern coast! Hope you have a wonderful writing in the New Year!! Happy New Year!!

I am so excited to find a Christian author. They are very hard to find. I love to read books, but l love to read good clean books. I have not read any of your books as of yet, but am looking forward to. I hope I WIN , that sounds like a wonderful book to get me started. I live in Washington, North Carolina way over on the eastern coast! Hope you have wonderful writing time in the New Year!! Hope your New Year is beautiful & bright & full of surprises & and may the Lord always be by your side!! Happy New Year!!

Thank you so very much, Sylvia. It’s great to meet another person fascinated by Italy. Have you ever been there? If not, I encourage you to visit if possible. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people.

Many blessings to you during the new year. And thank you again for your kind comment.